Office interiors are conventionally divided into small work areas by portable interior space-dividing arrangements which typically involve upright space-dividing members such as panels or equivalents, which said members are generally horizontally serially connected to define individual workstations. The space-dividing members are conventionally provided with prefabricated electrical systems associated therewith to simplify supply of electricity to electrified equipment which is utilized in the individual workstations. The space-dividing members conventionally support thereon other furniture accessories utilized in the workstation such as files, worksurfaces and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4 060 294 and 4 370 008, both owned by the Assignee of this invention, disclose therein interior space-dividing systems defined by upright wall panel assemblies which incorporate prefabricated electrical systems which extend longitudinally throughout serially-connected panels for simplifying the accessing of electrical energy to workstations. U.S. Pat. No. 4 771 583, also owned by the Assignee hereof, illustrates another space-dividing system wherein the upright space-dividing members constitute horizontally-elongate beams which extend between upright support posts, which beams permit additional space-dividing acoustical panels to be mounted thereabove for increasing the height of the space-dividing members. The horizontally-elongate beams of this latter system also accommodate a prefabricated electrical system which is disposed within elongate channels which extend interiorly of the beams. In the electrical system of the aforesaid '583 patent, the system provides multiple circuit capability but accessing of the circuits is by means of removable receptacle units dedicated to a single circuit, whereby different receptacle units such as "a" and "b" units are necessary in order to individually connect to two different circuits.
To improve accessibility to electrical circuits associated with electrical systems of the type employed within space-dividing systems, the Assignee developed improved receptacle units having circuit-selecting capability so that a single receptacle unit can be manually selectably adjusted for connection to a selected one of plural circuits as associated with the electrical system. Such circuit-selecting receptacle units are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4 367 370, 4 666 223 and 4 781 609, all owned by the Assignee hereof. While the receptacle units of the aforesaid patents have proven highly desirable and successful in utilization, nevertheless the present invention provides still further improvements associated with such circuit-selecting receptacle units.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved electrical system for a space-dividing system which, in an improved embodiment, constitutes an eight-wire, three-circuit system. The electrical system is prefabricated and includes elongated harnesses which are mounted within channels which extend interiorly of the space-dividing members. The harnesses can be either factory or field installed, and adjacent harnesses are electrically joined by flexible electrical connectors or jumpers which create a pluglike connection with the power blocks provided on the ends of adjacent harnesses. Receptacle units are removably connectable to at least one and preferably both sides of each power block, and have circuit-selecting capability to facilitate access to all three circuits from adjacent work areas.
In the improved electrical system, as aforesaid, the receptacle unit preferably includes at least two exteriorly accessible receptacles of conventional configuration associated with a front face of the receptacle unit housing, and the housing internally includes independent sets of three conductors each respectively associated with one of the receptacles and each set having independent circuit-selecting structure associated therewith so that each of the two receptacles associated with a single receptacle unit can be independently circuit selected.
In the improved electrical system, as aforesaid, the receptacle unit and the power block have cooperating connector portions which create a pluglike electrical connection therebetween. This pluglike connection includes a pair of connector portions associated with the power block, and each connector portion communicates with all wires of the power block so as to access all circuits. The receptacle unit also has two connector parts which are respectively engagable with the two connector portions on the power block. The connector parts on the receptacle unit are individually movable for circuit selection, and each couples solely to the three conductors associated with the respective receptacle.
In the improved electrical system, as aforesaid, the connector part associated with each receptacle preferably includes two guide parts adapted to create a pluglike engagement with corresponding two guide parts on the power block, the latter two guide parts having grounds contacts associated therewith. The two guide parts on the receptacle unit connector part, however, are provided with only a single ground terminal therein, which terminal is located in one or the other guide part depending upon whether connection to a common or an isolated ground is desired.
In the improved electrical system, as aforesaid, the connectors as provided on the power blocks and flexible power jumpers are preferably disposed in an arrangement whereby two sidewardly-adjacent vertically-elongate rows of contacts are provided, with each row having one of the two ground connects associated therewith, with one row having three live or "hot" contacts associated therewith, and the other row having three neutral contacts associated therewith. The sidewardly-adjacent rows are preferably disposed in vertically staggered or offset relationship with respect to one another to prevent improper engagement of coacting connectors.